Can We Apply Current Theories on Attitudes to Immigration Developed in the Global North to the Latin American Context?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14422/mig.22989.026Keywords:
Venezuelan migration, immigration attitudes, survey, South AmericaAbstract
Migration within the Global South is as significant as that to the North, yet most studies on immigration attitudes remain Northern-centered. This limits our understanding of how receiving contexts shape public perceptions. While the Global North receives culturally distinct migrants, Latin America experiences intra-regional flows characterized by cultural similarity, inequality, and limited state capacity. This article tests ethe conditional applicability of realistic competition theories to the Latin American context by analyzing attitudes toward Venezuelan immigrants in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru using OLS regression models based on Latinobarómetro2020 data. Results show that perceptions of fiscal and distributive competition are the strongest predictors of immigration attitudes, followed by perceptions of job competition, whereas individual characteristics have weaker effects. In contexts of inequality and institutional scarcity, competition is understood primarily as a struggle over public resources rather than a cultural threat, underscoring the need to contextualize Northern theories in Global South settings.
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